Planning on buying a WD Scorpio Black 500GB 7200rpm. Capacity isn't That much of a concern for me right now, I just want a boost in performance and speed as I still have the stock 160GB 5400rpm HD installed. (My mac is just used for my music, projects, and schoolwork).http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136692

Now once these parts are installed (or before), how should I go about installing Lion on the new HD? I'm going to personally backup my important files and just trash the rest. Also, I do not use Time Machine so no worries on that.

Also, with the age and specs of my slightly oldie but goodie MacBook Pro, is Lion the best way to go or should I stick with my Snow Leopard?

I have the same machine you have (13" 2009 MBP) and I recently upgraded to Lion, 8 GB of memory and a 1 TB Drive (to the flash drive fans: I need space more than speed, I had a 500 GB drive already in it).

It's been working great. I don't understand all the fear and hatred of Lion. For me it's been working without issue and I'm pleased with it.

Go for it. I consider it a mid life kicker as I keep my machines as long as they can run.

****Upgrade your disk drive BEFORE you upgrade to Lion*****

The reason is Lion creates the restore partition and if you install Lion on your 160 GB disk the restore partition will be on that one. If you then add the larger disk and then use time machine to move your data to the new drive... the restore partition will not be on the new drive with Lion on it.

Mine runs HOT.
Ever since I went to Lion after a week my screen does this.
I am blaming Flash and Lion for extreme heat!
Of course Apple won't do a thing because I am half year out of warranty.
I have the same machine as you so if you go for it let us know how yours ends up.

I have the same machine you have (13" 2009 MBP) and I recently upgraded to Lion, 8 GB of memory and a 1 TB Drive (to the flash drive fans: I need space more than speed, I had a 500 GB drive already in it).

It's been working great. I don't understand all the fear and hatred of Lion. For me it's been working without issue and I'm pleased with it.

Go for it. I consider it a mid life kicker as I keep my machines as long as they can run.

****Upgrade your disk drive BEFORE you upgrade to Lion*****

The reason is Lion creates the restore partition and if you install Lion on your 160 GB disk the restore partition will be on that one. If you then add the larger disk and then use time machine to move your data to the new drive... the restore partition will not be on the new drive with Lion on it.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the sound advice. I will install my HD then install Lion. I don't ever intend on using Time Machine but better safe than sorry I suppose.
I too intend on keeping this MacBook for a while, simply can't afford to upgrade as fast as they release refreshes.
On your 1TB, you don't mind the boot times at 5400rpm? And what brand did you go with?

I have the same mid-09 mbp with the same 8gb of crucial ram and a WD scorpio blue 500gb hd. Lion runs great on my system (upgraded over SL. slower boot time is the only down side i see, but to me, it's not a big deal and i'm hoping it will be remedied with 10.7.1.
google "lion fresh install, site:macrumors.com" and you'll find everything you need to do the install. and if you have the extra cash, go for an SSD for a speed increase. good luck

Thank you for the sound advice. I will install my HD then install Lion. I don't ever intend on using Time Machine but better safe than sorry I suppose.
I too intend on keeping this MacBook for a while, simply can't afford to upgrade as fast as they release refreshes.
On your 1TB, you don't mind the boot times at 5400rpm? And what brand did you go with?

I've had this drive for 2 weeks now and it's been great. It's faster than the 2 year old 500 GB drive (same brand) had in it. I don't consider the boot time a problem. I boot maybe once a month or so. There are several 1 TB laptop drives out now. You can compare and see which one you like.

Your upgrade won't be worth it without a SSD. trust me, it will change the way you compute. Why the heck is there anything without solid state drives nowadays?

Click to expand...

Three reasons:

1. They are still absurdly expensive per GB compared to a standard hard drive.
2. Some people need more storage space than what is offered by ssd.
3. The speed advantage of a ssd is, for most people, negligible in every day use.

OP:

Be wary of 7200 RPM drives in a 13" MBP--every one of them I've tried (which is just about all of them) create unacceptable (to me) amounts of vibration. It's like a current is running through the MBP. You might be better off with a 750 GB or 1 TB 5400 RPM drive.

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